We did it! Senate passes historic immigration reform bill

Today, the Senate took an important step forward for the 11 million aspiring citizens in this country – including 1.3 million APIs. At 4:20pm it passed an immigration bill with a vote of 68 – 32.

While this bill is far from perfect and we have a long fight ahead of us, we are pleased to see that a roadmap to citizenship, immediate relief for DREAMers, a good plan to eliminate the family visa backlog, and protections for domestic violence and trafficking survivors are included in the bill. Many API families will gain much deserved recognition through this process.

Thank you for making this happen! It was your calls, your letters, your photos with fedoras, your stories that strengthened our fight. NAPAWF has always believed that women, particularly AAPI women, would be the game changers to any policy fight. We were right.

We particularly want to thank Senator Mazie Hirono for her tremendous leadership in lifting up the unique needs of immigrant women and families. We applaud her for highlighting the importance of women’s contributions, and declaring that women and families should be able to access the health care they need.

NAPAWF has big dreams for immigrant women. We hope the final law includes an affordable roadmap to citizenship that doesn’t have burdensome language requirements. We hope it won’t tear families apart and that we don’t waste any more precious resources on border militarization. And, we hope immigrant women will be able to take their kids to the doctor when they’re sick, and get the care they need too. As the process continues, we’ll continue fighting for the needs of API women and their loved ones.

The ball is now in the House’s court, and we call on our Representatives to stand on the right side of history with us.